Feds charge 72 people in international online child sex ring

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON  Federal authorities announced charges against 72 people on five continents Wednesday in connection with a private online bulletin board operation that offered horrific images of adults engaged in violent sex with children, including some infants.

By Mark Wilson, Getty Images

John Morton, right, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Attorney General Eric Holder discuss the child pornography case that spans five continents.

John Morton, right, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Attorney General Eric Holder discuss the child pornography case that spans five continents.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the prosecution represented the largest of its kind in the USA, where 43 of the suspects were arrested for their alleged participation in the members-only portal known as "Dreamboard."

All of the suspects were charged with conspiracy to advertise and distribute child pornography and 50 were also charged with engaging in a child pornography enterprise. The maximum punishments are 30 years for the conspiracy count and life in prison on the enterprise charge.

One of the suspects, Michael Childs, 49, of Huntsville, Ala., already has pleaded guilty to the enterprise charge. He was sentenced on June 22 to 30 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release when his term is completed.

"The members of this criminal network shared a demented dream to create the pre-eminent online community for the promotion of child sexual exploitation, but for the children they victimized, this was nothing short of a nightmare," Holder said.

An estimated 27,000 images were traded on the site between 2008 and late last spring. Operations ceased at that time as users became aware of the federal investigation.

According to court documents, 600 users were given access to one of four membership levels by a site administrator. Each of the ascending levels allowed access to more material and members could move up by posting more images.

The highest level — "Super VIP" — was reserved for those who produced their own material.

One of the content categories, "Super Hardcore," included images of "preteens in distress … or crying," according to the criminal complaint.

Rules for use, printed in English, Russian, Japanese and Spanish, required prospective users to post "preview" images for review by an administrator, who demanded that the material contain "hard-core activity or nudity" and that the children depicted be under 13.

Federal authorities believe that dozens of children were subjected to abuse during the site's operation and that members attempted to conceal their identities by using aliases and screen names.

Links to the pornography posted on Dreamboard were "required to be encrypted with a password that was shared only with other members," according to court documents.

"Dreamboard was a living horror," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

Michelle Collins, a vice president with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said the private nature of the Dreamboard operation and the encryption technology used by its members highlight "the challenges that criminals are putting in the way" of investigators as they pursue suspects in similar, thriving international enterprises.

Reports of child pornography are flooding the national center's tip line, Collins said.

In 2010, the center received 213,000 such reports, up from 106,000 in 2009 and 85,000 in 2008.

"This year, we're well on track to surpass the 2010 numbers," Collins said.

"This case is important because it not only disrupted this network, it also sent a message to others who thought they could continue doing this and go undetected."

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